Rubio rips 'culture of intimidation'

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said Thursday the IRS’ targeting of tea party groups was a product of a “culture of intimidation” created by the White House.

“It’s important for the president to be honest about the culture of intimidation that his administration has created here,” Rubio said on MSNBC’s “The Daily Rundown,” adding that “this culture of intimidation is pervasive throughout the White House, and the federal government and I think all of this is a product of that. I really do.”

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Rubio cited a National Labor Relations Board decision against Boeing and IRS audits of some Mitt Romney donors as evidence of a broader problem.

“This is not in isolation. This is a string of events where you see an administration and federal government under this administration that’s willing to use its power to muscle and to hardball people who don’t agree with them,” Rubio said. “And now it appears to include The Associated Press. There’s a problem here. One thing is politics as you’ve outlined and another thing is full time, 24/7, 365-day-a-year political effort where everything is about politics. Everything is about destroying your opponent, and everything is about dividing the American people for your electoral gain.”

While nothing has emerged directly linkingthe White House or Preident Barack Obama’s reelection campaign to the IRS scandal, Rubio and other Republicans have attempted to argue the scandal was an inevitable byproduct of the Obama campaign’s demonization of the GOP and outside spending groups.